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Beyond Belief: The Politics of Religious Freedom

February 23, 2018

In recent years, policymakers in Europe and North America have rallied around the notion that religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and protections for religious minorities are the keys to combating persecution and discrimination. Northwestern University's Elizabeth Shakman Hurd doesn’t think so. A recipient of a Buffett "Big Ideas" grant, Hurd argues in "Beyond Religious Freedom" that the powerful global networks that seek to regulate and moderate religion create the very social tensions and divisions they mean to overcome.